Subsoiler



R. H. FORGY SUBSQILER March 16, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 4, 1949 R O T N E V m March 1954 R. H. FORGY 2,672,084

' SUBSOILER Filed Oct. 4, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Roberi .I-I. Porgy.

ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 16, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SUBSOILEB R bert Foray, Centralia, Kans- Application October 4, 1949, Serial No. 119,441

1 Claim.

inventi n r ates" to g icult ral impl ments n is more particularly concerned with plows .for breaking soil below the ground level- Sueh mpl m nts are usually referred to as subsoilers.

Or nary pl ws operate generally to break the soi ift it and th n. turn it ov forming .furro s ther y bury ng. the top soil and; vegetation associat d with it. Rec nt rends tarming prac c n cat s that it is more desirable not o p der thi pa t. o the ground. but i stead. to break, th subsoil wit out materially distu ing th t p soil a d its. vegetation from the stendpoin oi e osion contr l, i ri ation and p ant g owthhat is. to ex t is desirable to lift the too s l it the turf and. that permit th sam to fall heel; with the egetation e posed thereon o. that, suc g tation and root syst ms. form a na ural met. or cover, which ac s s a pro ective c ver against windwhile at, the s ti mitting water to readily infiltrate and. renderi g u qu ar h pr p ring operations more effective than can be had with the usual plow;

O e o th j etsoi th inrenti n is the provision of a subsoiler which acts to cut the soil horizontally below gr un level levatethe soil ou of he g u d and then drop. it back int place without materially disturbing the top soil and vegetation therein.

Another object of the, invention. is the provision of such a subsoiler which requires only a small amount of power to operate it.

A further object is to provide a subsoiler which includes substantially no obstructions to. the soil as it is being elevated; and dropped back into place.

" A still further object to-proyide. asubsoiler which is simple in. constructiIon, inexpensive to assemble and which is readily attachable to a tractor or other draft means. I

A still further object is the-provision of a subsoiler comprising aplurality-of similar units removably connected together in such a manneras to permit changing the width of the swath thereof.

Other objects include means for using different earth working tools, means for spacing the tools as desired, and means for shifting. the position of the said tools, to chang their. an ler-of incidence with respect to the ground.

These and other objects andadvantagesoof the invention will appear from theflfollowingv description considered" together with the. accompanying drawing; I

'Inthe drawing:

Fig. '1 is an isometric view- Qf' tframe structure carrying a. plurality of; subsqiler assemblies. in accordance with this invention,

Fig. 2 is an isometric view of: one of the=sub.-.-- sellerassembliesepartrrom the-frame structure.

Fig. 3 is another isometric view of the same unit as shown in 2 at a different angle.

Fig. 4 is an exploded View of a portion of. the assembly illustrated in Figs 2 and 3 showing the manner in which two of the. basic units thereof are connected together.

Fig. 5 is an isometric View of a modified form or subsoiler assembly.

Fig. 6 is an isometric view .of another modified format. subsoiler assembly.

Referring with more particularity to the. draw.- ing in which like. numerals, designate like. parts, the embodiment illustrated in. Figs. 1, 2, 3' and 4 comprises the subsoiler' assembly which is con-.- structed of a plurality of similar tool carrier units ll, each of said units comprising a strap member and being substantially li -shaped with one arm. 12. longer than the other arm 13. As shown the drawing, the arms. 12- and t3 are parallel to and, spaced from each other, being. connected to, sether by the. intervening transrerse bight. per-.- tion at the. rear. Said units; are: each providedv with. a. plurality of apertures 14 on the shorter arm. in alignment with apertures ti on the longer arm to permit the units to. be secured. together by means. of bolts 16; passing. through the aper- Fillies; As many oi these uni-ts asrdesired may be. secured in this manner depending upon the width of the. swath desired.

Theiront end of each long arm .12; is provided with a shoulder 11: sloping downward toward the.- front to which is secured. has welding.- or othersnitable-meansa free or support; 18. .Saidirog: or supp rt adapted to remcvably: carry an earth working ool. such as a; cuttin blade; l9, The. cuttingblademey e ither in onepart or in two:

parts. Atwo part blade may: comprise-command tip 2.0 (see. Fig. 2.); and a rearward. shank 2t to permit replacing e. tin wh nit. becomes dun: 0r

broken or when a difierentshape-is desired, suchas, fiat, Veshaped. serrated, Theblades are attached, to the frogs. it by means of bolts 22- passing throughaperturesrin. the blade and aperthres in the frog, such as the apertures 23, To provide. for. adjustment oi, the position of the blade on the frog additional-apertures; 24? may be provided through the frog adjacent the. apertures; 23 to be used alternativly thereof. In lieuof providin such additional aperture slots (not shown) may. be substituted for the apertures 23 In-assemblingthe carrier units. along...ar.-m l2 Will e n one side. or, the. assembly and a. short arm .13 willbe on theonpositetside- According, 1y, order to complete the. assembly, a. special carrier unitconsistihg; 0f a straight hanor extension. armziisseeured .to the outermostshortarm l 3,.thefrontend of which isprovided with arms: and earth; Working, tool inrthe case of. the... anednnitslzl'.

, ierts eWh l mmon t s parallel horizontal beams 28 and 29 which are spaced apart a distance corresponding to at least the swath of the completed assembly. Vertical portions 30 and 3| extend downwardly from one end of said beams and have their lower ends 32 and 33 inwardly offset to about the sides of the assembly to which they are secured by means of bolts 34 and 35. These bolts pass through apertures in the said lower ends 32 and 33 and corresponding apertures of the assembly, which may be the apertures l4 and I5, as shown. The lower ends 32 and 33 are below the level of the upper ends of the blades I! so that earth moving over aid blades will not come in contact with any part of the vertical portions 30 and 3 I.

The assemblies are mounted on a suitable frame structure which may be adapted to carry one, two, three or more of such assemblies. Fig. 1 illustrates three of these assemblies, designated generally by the letters A, B and C, respectively, connected together on a carriage supported on ground wheels 35 and 31. Said wheels are mounted on crank arms 38 and 39 respectively, of a shaft 40, which shaft is rotatably mounted in bearings 4| and 42 connected to frame members 43 and 44. In this manner, rotation of the shaft in one direction causes the frame to become elevated relative to the ground and in the other direction to become lowered relative to the ground. A lever arm 45 is secured to the middle of the shaft and is connected by a link 46 to one end of a pivoted hitch bar 41 at the front of the carriage. The other end of the hitch bar is provided with a hitching device 48. It may be seen, therefore, that when a pull is exerted on the hitching device 48 the other end of the bar 41 is urged rearwardly. This movement is transmitted through the link 46 to the lever arm and tends to rotate the shaft 40 clockwise, as viewed in Fig. 1. Rotation of the shaft in this direction causes the frame to become lowered. In order to control the movements of the shaft 40, it is provided with additional lever arms 49 and 50 which are connected to piston rods 5| and 52 of hydraulic cylinders 53 and 54 mounted on front frame members 55 and 56. Pipes 51 and 53 are connected to the rearward end of the cylinders 53 and 54 from a source of supply (not shown) of liquid, such as oil, under pressure with suitable valve means (not shown) for controlling the flow of liquid to and from the cylinders. Consequently, by forcing liquid into the cylinders through the pipes 51 and 58, the piston rods 5| ,and 52 are actuated to effect a rotation of the shaft 40 in a counterclockwise direction. Such control means are well known in th art and are given merely by way of example and not by way of limitation. Any other suitable means of controlling the vertical position of the frame may be employed such as depth gauges, lever controls with stops, and so forth.

In mounting the subsoiler assemblies on a frame structure of the type illustrated in Fig. 1 or of any other suitable type it is important to position it so that there are no obstruction to the passage of earth over the blades l9. Moreover, it is to be understood that although the beams 28 and 29 on which the assembly is mounted are shown in a position forward of the assembly to provide for pulling the unit through the ground, it is within the scop of this invention to reverse the position of the beams so that they extend rearwardly in cases where it may be desired to push the assemblies. For example, one of the uses to which such an assembly may be put is to break the soil in advanc of an earth moving device, such as a scoop bucket. It is well known that such scoop buckets may operate satisfactorily in soft soil, but encounter difficulty in operating through hard soil. One of the assemblies of the present invention may be pivotally mounted on frame members to permit it to be lowered in operative position in front of such a scoop bucket whenever hard ground is encountered and out of operative position when the nature of the ground is such that it is not needed.

Th modified form illustrated in Fig. 5 comprises a plurality of tool carrier units similar to units ll, except that both arms 6| thereof are of the same length and each arm is provided with a frog 62 for carrying the earth working tools. In assemblying the units, spacers 63 are disposed between consecutive units and bolted thereto as in the previous embodiment. There is also illustrated in this figure the modification of using varying lengths of frogs to receive varying lengths of blades. This feature assists the breaking up of the soil as it glides over the rear ends of the blades and is generally applicable to all embodiments of the invention.

The further modification illustrated in Fig. 6 may be employed when a fixed width of swath is desired and there is no need to provide for any variation thereof. In this modification, a plurality of parallel arms 64 carry the frogs 65 at their front ends while the rear ends thereof are secured to a back plate or bar 66 by welds 61 or any other suitable means. Aperture 68 and 59 are provided in the outermost members 34 for attachment to supporting beams such as those illustrated in Fig. 3.

Iclaim:

A subsoiler assembly comprising a row of similar J-shaped strap members, said strap members being disposed in side by side relation, each member having a long arm and a short arm parallel to the long arm, the arms of each member being spaced apart and connected together by a transverse bight portion at the rear, said arms having aligned apertures, securing bolts in said apertures to connect the long arm of each member directly to the short arm of its adjacent member in the row, one terminal member of the row having its short arm on the outside, an extension arm secured to said short arm of said terminal member, the long arm of each member and said extension arm having their forward ends sloping downwardly and forwardly, a tool supportable frog on the sloping forward ends of the long arm of each member and of the extension arm, and means for attaching an earth working tool to each frog.

ROBERT H. FORGY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 6,508 Bacon June 5, 1849 448,740 Mitchell et a1 Mar. 24, 1891 473,517 Mitchell et a1. Apr. 26, 1892 674,405 Greathouse May 21, 1901 695,078 Perkins Mar. 11, 1902 902,075 Hamilton Oct. 27, 1908 1,130,655 Andrew at al Mar. 2, 1915 1,642,301 Forgy Sept. 13, 1927 2,296,605., Forgy Sept. 22, 1942 

